Najib Razak, Malaysian prime minister, says he must respect wishes of next of
kin

The missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft cannot be declared lost until there is hard evidence that the plane crashed, the Malaysian prime minister said in an interview.

Speaking on CNN, Najib Razak admitted that it was likely that the plane, which had 239 people on board, had crashed.

“On the balance of the evidence, it would be hard to imagine otherwise,” he said.

But asked whether he could confirm that the aircraft should be declared lost, he added: “Right now I think I need to take into account the feelings of the next of kin – and some of them have said publicly that they are not willing to accept it until they find hard evidence.”